Important  Facts 

Regarding 

British  Columbia 
Tidewater  Timber 


James  D.  Lacey  &  Co. 

New  York         Chicago         Seattle 
November  IQlS 


Agri  ry.  Main  Library 


Important  Facts 

Regarding 

British  Columbia 
Tidewater  Timber 


James  D.  Lacey  &  Co. 

New  York         Chicago         Seattle 
November  !Ql8 


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FOREST  CONDITIONS 

A  N  annual  precipitation  of  over  50  inches,  a  temperature  range  rarely  showing  a  monthly 
>L\  average  below  35°  or  above  65°,  together  with  a  correspondingly  long  growing  season, 
have  provided  Vancouver  Island  and  the  adjacent  mainland  with  a  coniferous  forest  which 
is  equalled  for  density,  rapidity  of  growth,  amount  of  wood  per  acre,  and  individual  tree  develop- 
ment, only  in  the  Coast  regions  of  Oregon  and  "Washington,  where  similar  climatic  conditions 
prevail. 

The  extent  and  distribution  of  this  forest  is  well  shown  on  the  opposite  page.  The  solid  black 
areas  indicate  the  relative  size  and  location  of  all  lands  that  have  passed  to  private  ownership. 
And,  inasmuch  as  prior  to  December,  1907,  title  to  British  Columbia  timber  could  be  secured  for 
the  payment  of  one  year's  license  fee  in  advance,  the  area  sEbwn  in  black,  amounting  to  about 
5%  of  the  total  area  of  the  Province,  may  be  assumed  to  fairly  represent  that  portion  of  the 
Province  which  bears  a  stand  of  timber  having  a  present  commercial  value. 


It  will  be  noticed  from  this  map  that  the  merchant- 
able forest  is  most  conspicuous  on  Vancouver  Island 
and  the  adjacent  mainland,  and  that  it  is  almost 
entirely  confined  to  the  immediate  sea  coast  and  a 
few  narrow  strips  extending  up  stream  valleys.  It 
will  also  be  noticed  that  a  considerable  portion  of 
the  immediate  sea  coast,  especially  along  the  larger 
inlets  extending  into  the  Coast  Range  and  along  the 
unprotected  shore  front  north  of  Vancouver  Island,  is 
destitute  of  commercially  valuable  timber. 

In  addition  to  the  5  per  cent  of  commercially  tim- 
bered lands  as  noted  above,  there  is  a  10  or  15  per 
cent  of  the  area  of  the  province  that  bears  a  forest 
growth  that  will  eventually  come  to  have  commercial 
value  as  the  prices  of  wood  products  increase  and 
new  ways  are  found  to  log  more  cheaply  the  lighter 
and  less  accessible  stands  of  timber. 

The  cruising  and  mapping  of  the  timberlands  of 
British  Columbia  has  not  as  yet  progressed  sufficient- 
ly to  indicate  closely  the  total  stand  of  timber  in  the 
province.  Tentatively,  it  may  be  placed  as  being  in 
the  vicinity  of  350  billion  feet,  but  of  this  total  not 
more  than  200  billion  feet  has  been  adjudged  to  have 
a  present  commercial  value  by  being  honored  by 
purchase  by  private  interests.  And  of  this  200  billion 
about  60  billion  feet  would  interest  a  logger  on  the 
basis  of  the  lumber  prices  and  costs  of  logging  pre- 
vailing during  the  past  five  years. 

The  altitude  limit  of  the  commercially  valuable 
forest  varies  progressively  from  about  3500  feet 
above  sea  level  near  Vancouver  to  less  than  2000 
feet  in  the  vicinity  of  Broughton  Island. 

The  composition  of  the  forest  varies  somewhat 
with  the  altitude  but  chiefly  with  moisture  conditions, 
which  in  turn  are  controlled  both  by  the  rainfall  and 
the  degree  of  exposure  to  the  sun.  Wherever  the 
combination  of  rainfall  and  exposure  together  with 
a  lack  of  protective  measures  by  man,  has  in  the  past 
been  such  as  to  permit  the  occasional  drying  out  of 
the  forest  to  the  extent  of  bringing  about  sweeping 
fires,  the  typical  stand  is  of  even-age,  origin  dating 
from  a  fire,  and  is  made  up  of  varying  proportions  of 
Douglas  fir,  hemlock  and  cedar,  with  occasional  ad- 
mixture of  silver  fir,  spruce  and  white  pine.  Where 
this  typical  stand  escapes  fire  for  a  period  of  about 
400  years,  the  Douglas  fir  begins  to  drop  out  through 
lack  of  the  favorable  conditions  for  Douglas  fir  seed 
germination  which  seem  to  be  provided  only  by  the 
exposure  of  the  mineral  soil  resulting  from  fire,  and 


thereafter  the  forest  continues  as  an  uneven-aged 
stand,  the  blanks  being  filled  by  reproduction  of 
hemlock,  cedar,  and  silver  fir.  Pure  stands  of  hem- 
lock are  of  frequent  occurrence,  especially  at  the 
higher  elevations,  and,  occasionally,  nearly  pure 
stands  of  cedar  are  found.  This  Douglas  fir  type  of 
forest  is  characteristic  of  the  inside  edge  of  Van- 
couver Island  as  far  north  as  Salmon  River,  with 
local  recurrences  beyond  as  far  as  Nimpkish  Lake. 
It  coincides  closely  with  the  area  most  effectively 
sheltered  from  the  heavy  West  Coast  rainfall  by  the 
mountains  of  Vancouver  Island.  On  the  mainland 
and  intervening  islands  this  type  occupies  portions 
of  the  immediate  shore  front  as  far  north  as  Cracroft 
Island,  attaining  its  best  development  in  small  lake 
valleys  close  to  tidewater  such  as  those  of  the  Gordon 
Pasha  and  Seabird  Lakes. 

Back  up  the  narrow,  high-walled  and  shady  valleys 
of  the  lower  mainland  coast;  along  the  shadier  por- 
tions of  the  shore  front  slopes;  at  the  higher  eleva- 
tions generally  where  the  rainfall  and  more  par« 
ticularly  the  snowfall  is  comparatively  heavy,  and 
throughout  that  portion  of  the  Sheltered  Waters  Re- 
gion extending  from  Cracroft  Island  to  Drury  Inlet, 
which  is  beyond  the  full  sheltering  influence  of  Van- 
couver Island,  the  moisture  conditions  prohibit  the 
development  of  the  Douglas  fir  type  and  have  de- 
veloped  a  forest  consisting  almost  entirely  of  cedar, 
hemlock  and  silver  fir,  with  a  scattering  of  spruce  in 
places  and  with  considerable  yellow  cedar  at  the 
higher  elevations. 

Douglas  Fir:  The  fir  is  the  most  important  tree 
on  the  southern  portion  of  the  British  Columbia  coast. 
It  frequently  exceeds  250  feet  in  height  and  reaches 
15  feet  in  diameter.  In  general,  however,  it  runs 
from  3  to  6  feet  in  diameter  and  cuts  140  to  200 
lineal  feet  of  logs  to  a  tree.  In  quality  of  wood  it 
resembles  the  southern  yellow  pine  but,  of  course, 
gives  much  larger  dimensions  and  a  very  much  larger 
proportion  of  clear  lumber. 

Red  Cedar:  The  cedar  is  found  throughout  the 
coast  region  and  is  the  predominating  species  in  the 
northern  portion  of  the  Sheltered  Waters  Region, 
where  it  commonly  forms  70  to  80  per  cent  of  the 
total  stand  of  timber.  It  often  reaches  a  height  of 
200  feet  and  averages  3  to  6  feet  in  diameter,  though 
occasionally  very  much  larger.  The  imminent  ex- 
haustion of  the  cedar  forests  of  the  east  and  the  north 


450948 


and  the  cypress  forests  of  the  south. gives  this,  the 
finest  of  all  the  -cedars,  a  ccrrii^aud.'ng  position  in 
the  markets  of  the  continent.  Already  it  supplies 
over  70  per  efent  of'  air  tb.e  shingles  .used  in  Canada 
and  the  United  S'.ates.  :  *".\  .,  - 

Western  Hemlock:  The  hemlock  *is'  omnipresent, 
occurring  everywhere  in  mixture  with  other  species 
and  in  places — notably  the  northern  third  of  Vancou- 
ver Island — forming  over  half  the  total  stand.  It 
averages  smaller  in  size  than  the  fir,  but  frequently 
attains  5  feet  and  over  in  diameter  and  200  feet  in 
height.  In  strength,  ease  of  working,  freedom  from 
warp  or  shake,  the  wood  of  the  inferior  western 
hemlock  is  sharply  distinguished  from  that  of  the 
eastern  hemlock.  The  results  of  strength  tests  con- 
ducted by  the  United  States  Forest  Service  show 
conclusively  that,  on  the  basis  of  air-seasoned  tim- 
bers, western  hemlock  ranks  with  Douglas  fir  or  long- 
leaf  pine.  It  is  somewhat  inferior  to  Douglas  fir, 
however,  in  its  resistance  to  decay. 

The  hemlock,  in  common  with  the  western  spruce 
and  balsam,  is  a  first  class  pulp  wood  and  forms  the 
basis  for  the  rapidly  developing  pulp  and  paper  in- 
dustry, thus  enjoying  the  advantage  of  being  in 
demand  as  raw  material  for  two  separate  industries. 
This  advantage,  which  is  just  beginning  to  come  into 
play,  will  in  all  likelihood  bring  western  hemlock  to 
the  front  where  it  belongs. 

Silver  Fir:  The  silver  fir,  otherwise  known  as 
balsam,  and  commonly  called  "larch"  by  the  logging 
fraternity,  runs  about  the  same  size  as  the  hemlock,, 
but  is  not  as  abundant,  rarely  forming  more  than  30 
per  cent  of  the  stand  over  any  considerable  area.  Its 
wood  is  softer  than  that  of  the  hemlock,  and  is  very 
even-grained  and  easily  worked. 

Sitka  Spruce:  The  spruce  occurs  very  sparingly 
on  the  southern  portion  of  the  coast,  rarely  forming 
over  15  per  cent  of  the  stand  and  generally  less  than 
5  per  cent.  Farther  north  it  is  more  abundant,  but 
is  rarely  predominant,  except  on  small  areas  along 
valley  bottoms.  In  size  and  quality  it  rivals  the  fir 
and  being  light,  strong  for  its  weight,  and  of  very 
even  texture,  has  recently  come  into  strenuous  de- 
mand for  aeroplane  stock. 

Yellow  Cedar:  The  yellow  cedar,  also  called  cy- 
press, is  mostly  confined  to  the  less  accessible  loca- 
tions and  as  yet  has  not  come  into  the  market  to 
any  considerable  extent.  It  has  all  the  good  qualities 
of  the  cedars,  including  great  durability  and  evenness 
of  texture  and  possesses  in  addition  a  degree  of 
strength  and  elasticity  not  to  be  found  in  any  other 
cedar.  Without  doubt  it  is  the  coming  canoe  and 
boat  builders'  wood  of  the  continent. 

Fire  Risk:  Three  factors  minimize  the  fire  risk 
in  the  forests  of  this  region. 

(a)  The  heavy  rainfall. 

(b)  The  topography  of  the  country  is  most  unfa- 
vorable to  the  running  of  fires  over  large  areas.    The 
timber  occurs  chiefly  in  comparatively  narrow  val- 
leys, separated  from  each  other  by  high  mountains 
which  present  impassable  barriers  to  fires. 

(c)  The  durability  and  large  size  of  the  Douglas 
fir  and  the  red  cedar,  together  with  the  comparative 
absence  of  injurious  boring  insects  on  the  burned- 
over  lands,  make  it  possible  to  log  these  timbens  for 
many  years  after  they  have  been  killed  by  fire.    The 
red  cedar  is  especially  good  in  this  respect,  and  is 
sawn   into  the   finest   of   lumber   and   shingles   fifty 
years  after  being  killed  by  fire. 

Within  the  Douglas  fir  type  the  fire  risk  is,  of 
course,  considerable  and  demands  systematic  meas- 


ures of  prevention  and  control,  which  are  effectively 
provided  by  a  fund  amounting  to  three  cents  per 
acre  on  all  the  privately  held  timberlands  of  the 
province,  aggregating  about  ten  million  acres.  One- 
half  of  this  fund  is  collected  from  the  timber  owner 
as  a  fire  protection  tax  and  the  other  half  is  furnished 
by  the  provincial  government. 

As  a  result  of  these  various  controlling  factors,  the 
losses  in  standing  timber  by  fire  are  practically  neg- 
ligible. Cut-over  lands,  here  as  elsewhere,  frequently 
burn,  but  only  exceptionally  will  the  fire  extend  be- 
yond the  edge  of  the  slashing. 

The  annual  loss  of  standing  timber  by  fire  through- 
out the  Douglas  fir  regions  of  the  Pacific  Northwest 
shown  by  detailed  records  for  the  past  10  years,  aver- 
ages 3/100  of  one  per  cent. 

In  the  cedar-hemlock  type  the  fire  risk  is  practical- 
ly non-existent. 

Titles:  The  timber  of  British  Columbia  has  passed 
into  private  ownership  under  seven  different  forms 
of  title.  The  respective  areas  held  under  the  differ- 
ent title  forms  are  as  follows: 

Timber  limits 8,374,200  acres 

Timber  berths   (railway  belt) 1,123,117 

Crown  Grants   (fee  simple) 922,206 

Timber  leases  619,125 

Pulp  leases  354,399      " 

Timber  sales  64,440      " 

Tan  bark  leases  32,252      " 


Total 11,489,739      " 

Timber  License:  Or  as  termed  in  the  Forest  Act, 
"special  timber  license,"  is  the  form  of  title  under 
which  about  four-fifths  of  the  privately  owned  timber- 
lands  of  Canada  are  held.  The  British  Columbia  tim- 
ber license  vests  in  the  holder  all  rights  of  property 
whatsoever  in  all  trees,  timber,  and  lumber  cut  from 
the  "timber  limit"  to  which  the  license  applies, 
whether  cut  by  the  authority  of  the  holder  of  the 
license  or  any  other  person,  and  gives  to  holder  the 
right  to  seize  wherever  found  any  logs  or  any  product 
manufactured  from  logs  taken  from  the  limit,  also  to 
institute  actions  for  trespass  and  to  recover  damages 
for  such  trespass;  the  license  holders'  rights  in  these 
regards  being  the  same  as  if  the  lands  were  owned 
in  fee  simple.  (See  Forest  Act,  Sec.  18.) 

The  British  Columbia  timber  license  is  perpetual; 
that  is  to  say,  the  holders'  rights  remain  unimpaired 
"so  long  as  there  remains  on  the  ground  merchantable 
timber  in  sufficient  quantity  to  make  it  commercially 
valuable."  When,  however,  an  owner  has  cut  all 
the  timber  he  desires  to  cut  on  any  one  timber  limit, 
he  may  allow  the  title  to  that  limit  to  lapse  through 
the  non-payment  of  the  annual  taxation  without 
prejudice  to  his  title  to  the  other  limits  in  the  group. 
(See  Forest  Act,  Sec.  21.) 

Timber  Limit:  This  is  a  term  applied  to  the  tim- 
berland  held  under  a  single  Special  Timber  License 
and  has  a  normal  area  of  one  square  mile,  being  in 
this  respect  equivalent  to  a  section,  or  640  acres. 

Timber  Berth:  Just  as  "timber  limit"  designates 
an  area  held  under  provincial  timber  license,  so  the 
term  "timber  berth"  designates  an  area  held  under 
Dominion  timber  license.  The  government  of  the 
Dominion  of  Canada  owns  all  timberlands  for  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty  miles  on  either  side  of  the  main  line 
of  the  Canadian  Pacific  Railway.  This  40-mile  wide 
strip  across  the  province  is  known  as  the  "railway 
belt"  and  all  timberlands  alienated  by  the  Dominion 


government  are  known  as  "timber  berths."  The  only 
essential  differences  between  a  timber  berth  and  a 
timber  limit  are  the  differences  between  the  Domin* 
ion  and  provincial  regulations  regarding  lands  held 
under  timber  license.  Both  titles  are  perpetual  so 
long  as  merchantable  timber  remains  on  the  ground. 
In  the  case  of  the  provincial  "timber  limits,"  the 
taxation  both  as  regards  annual  license  fee  and 
"royalty"  has  been  definitely  fixed  until  December  31, 
1954,  whereas  the  Dominion  government  has  so  far 
reserved  the  right  to  vary  the  taxation  from  time 
to  time.  At  the  present  time  the  royalty  on  timber 
cut  from  timber  berths  is  50  cents  a  thousand  for  all 
species  and  log  grades.  The  annual  taxation,  or 
"ground  rent,"  is  5  cents  an  acre.  As  noted  above, 
timber  limits  are  limited  in  area  to  640  acres.  Tim- 
ber berths  are  not  so  limited. 

Crown  Grants:  The  term  "crown  grant"  as  applied 
to  timberlands  signifies  that  such  lands  are  held  by 
the  owner  in  fee  simple.  Timberlands  have  not  been 
sold  in  fee  by  the  Province  of  British  Columbia  since 
1896.  The  total  area  of  fee  lands  in  1916  is  reported 
at  922,206  acres.  The  annual  taxation  on  crown 
granted  land  varies  with  the  assessed  value,  as  is  the 
case  with  similar  lands  in  the  United  States,  and  the 
tendency  in  recent  years  has  been  to  increase  the 
assessed  valuation  of  crown  granted  lands  with  a 
consequent  increase  in  the  amount  of  annual  taxation. 

Prior  to  April  7,  1887,  lands  sold  in  fee  were  not 
subject  to  a  royalty  reservation,  which  was  first 
established  at  that  time.  All  timber  cut  from  lands 
crown  granted  since  April  7,  1887,  is  subject  to  a  flat 
royalty  of  50  cents  a  thousand,  regardless  of  species 
or  log  grades.  As  already  noted,  the  sale  of  timber- 
lands in  fee  was  discontinued  in  1896.  Since  that 
time,  however,  considerable  areas  have  been  crown 
granted  for  agricultural  purposes,  and  these  lands 
frequently  carried  more  or  less  timber,  which  timber 
was  also  subject  to  the  flat  royalty  rate  of  50  cents 
per  thousand.  With  the  enactment  of  the  Timber 
Royalty  Act  on  April  30,  1914,  timber  standing  on 
agricultural  lands  granted  subsequent  to  January  1, 
1914,  was  made  subject  to  the  same  royalty  charges 
as  obtained  on  timber  limits. 

Timber  Lease:  Before  the  standard  timber  title 
known  as  "special  timber  license"  had  been  adopted, 
there  had  been  alienated  some  600,000  acres  of  Brit- 
ish Columbia  timberlands  by  leasing.  Unlike  "timber 
licenses,"  all  of  which  are  subject  to  the  same  terms 
and  conditions,  these  leases  differ  greatly  from  each, 
ether  in  the  matter  of  annual  taxation  (varying  from 
5  to  25  cents  per  acre),  length  of  term  (varying  from 
15  to  30  years),  and  in  other  respects. 

With  few  exceptions  timber  leases  were  made  re- 
newable in  perpetuity  under  the  legislation  of  1901, 
or  were  converted  into  special  timber  licenses  under 
legislation  of  1915,  and  thus  made  perpetual  to  the 
timber  land  investor.  Timber  leases  are  of  interest 
in  that  the  terms  under  which  they  are  held  differ 
somewhat  from  the  standard  terms  of  the  special 
timber  license.  In  determining  the  value  of  these 
differences,  the  investor  must  always  carefully  read 
the  text  of  the  lease  contract  in  question. 

Pulp  Lease:  In  addition  to  the  above  described 
timber  leases,  there  are  about  350,000  acres  held 
under  pulp  lease  for  the  supply  of  raw  material  for 
the  various  pulp  and  paper  manufacturing  companies. 
Timberland  investors  are  not  interested  in  this  form 
of  lease  unless  they  are  interested  to  purchase  the 
pulp  or  paper  manufacturing  plant  that  goes  with  it. 


The  taxes  on  pulp  leases  are  fixed  at  a  lower  rate 
than  on  other  timberlands. 

Timber  Sales:  In  December,  1907,  all  timberlands 
in  British  Columbia  not  already  disposed  of  were  re- 
served from  sale.  In  the  Forest  Act  of  1912,  however, 
provision  was  made  for  the  sale  of  small  areas  of 
timber  for  immediate  operation,  the  procedure  adopt- 
ed being  closely  akin  to  that  used  by  the  United 
States  Forest  Service  in  the  sale  of  timber  in  the 
forest  reserves.  Since  1912  some  60,000  acres  have 
been  disposed  of  in  this  way,  and  there  doubtless 
still  remain  many  small  areas  which  will  be  pur- 
chased oy  loggers  under  this  provision  of  the  Forest 
Act  as  stumpage  values  increase.  The  area  being 
operated  under  timber  sales  amounts  to  less  than 
one-fifth  of  1  per  cent  of  the  British  Columbia  timber- 
lands held  in_private  ownership. 

Tan  Bark  Lease:  These  leases  are  of  minor  im- 
portance and  none  of  them  have  so  far  been  operated 
for  the  tan  bark  they  may  yield.  Where  saw-logs  are 
cut  from  pulp  leases  or  tan  bark  leases,  they  are 
subject  to  practically  the  same  taxation  and  other 
rules  and  regulations  as  obtain  on  lands  held  under 
the  British  Columbia  special  timber  license  above 
described. 

License  Fee:  The  license  fee  is  similar  to  what  is 
known  in  eastern  Canada  as  the  "ground  rent,"  and 
is  the  annual  taxation  payable  on  a  timber  limit. 
The  amount  of  the  license  fee  is  $140  per  timber  limit 
west  of  the  Cascade  range  and  $100  per  limit  east 
of  the  Cascade  range  and  in  the  district  of  Atlin,  and 
these  figures  are  the  maximum  which  may  be  charged 
up  to  December  31,  1954.  The  license  fee  is  a  flat 
tax  per  timber  limit,  regardless  of  whether  or  not  the 
timber  limit  has  full  acreage  (640  acres)  and  regard- 
less of  the  amount  or  value  of  the  timber  standing 
thereon.  In  general  this  fixed  annual  taxation 
amounts  to  y2  of  1  cent  per  thousand  feet  per  annum 
on  well  selected  timberlands. 

Fire  Protection  Fund  Tax:  All  timberlands  in 
British  Columbia,  whatever  the  form  of  title  under 
which  they  are  held,  are  assessed  1%  cents  per  acre 
per  annum  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  fund  for 
the  protection  of  timberlands  from  fire.  The  provin- 
cial government  contributes  an  additional  sum  equal 
to  that  contributed  by  the  timberland  owners,  and  the 
fund  is  administered  by  the  British  Columbia  Forest 
Branch. 

Royalty:  The  "yield  tax"  payable  when  the  tim- 
ber is  cut,  is  known  in  British  Columbia  and  else- 
where in  Canada  as  the  "royalty."  The  term  "royalty" 
is  an  inheritance  from  ancient  times  when  royalties 
were  payable  to  the  king.  Now,  of  course,  the  royalty 
is  the  property  of  the  province  and  is  one  of  the  chief 
sources  of  provincial  revenue. 

As  in  the  case  of  the  annual  taxation,  the  "yield 
tax"  or  "royalty"  has  been  fixed  in  advance  until 
December  31,  1954.  The  present  scale  of  royalties 
on  the  British  Columbia  coast  is  85  cents  a  thousand 
feet  log  measure  (as  measured  by  the  British  Co- 
lumbia log  rule)  on  No.  1  and  No.  2  fir,  spruce,  cedar, 
pine  and  cottonwood  logs,  and  50  cents  a  thousand 
feet  for  all  other  logs,  including  all  grades  of  hem- 
lock, balsam  and  cypress.  The  rate  of  royalty  pay- 
able to  the  government  may  not  be  increased  until 
the  5-year  average  wholesale  selling  price  (f.  o.  b. 
mill)  of  all  lumber  cut  in  the  province  exceeds  $18.00 
a  thousand  feet.  Whenever  the  5-year  average  whole- 
sale price  for  all  grades  of  lumber  shall  exceed  $18.00 


the  royalty  will  be  automatically  increased  according 
to  a  schedule  in  the  act,  which  provides  for  a  sharing 
of  excess  profits  between  the  province  and  the  lum- 
bermen, the  province's  share  being  25  per  cent  of 
such  excess  until  1924,  30  per  cent  from  1925  to  1934, 
35  per  cent  from  1935  to  1944,  and  40  per  cent  from 
1945  to  1954. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  timberland  investor, 
the  reservation  of  a  royalty  or  yield  tax  by  the  gov- 
ernment is  of  great  advantage  inasmuch  as  it  makes 
the  state  a  partner  with  the  investor  in  the  owner- 
ship of  the  timber,  thus  reducing  the  amount  of  in- 
vestment required  to  control  a  given  amount  of 
stumpage. 

This  can  best  be  illustrated  by  assuming  two  tracts 
of  equal  intrinsic  value  on  a  per  thousand  foot  basis 
— say  $1.50  per  thousand;  one  located  in  British 
Columbia  and  the  other  in  Washington;  also  assume 
an  investment  of  $300,000  in  both  cases: 

In  In  British 

Washington          Columbia 
Per  1000  Ft.    Per  1000  Ft. 

1.  First  Cost- 
Value  of  Stumpage,  say $1.50  $1.50 

Less  Royalty  tax  payable  when 

timber  is  cut  None  .75 

Actual  purchase  price  payable 
by  investor  $1.50  $  .75 

2.  Carrying  Charges — 
Interest  on  purchase  price  at 

7%  for,  say,  10  years....$1.46  .73 

Taxes  for  10  years  (about)  .15  .05 

Interest  on  Taxes  at  7% 

(about)  07  .03 

1.68  .81 

Total  cost  for  10  years $3.18  $1.56 

Add  Royalty  to  be  paid  when 
timber  is  cut None  .75 

3.  Total  Cost — 

Total  items  chargeable  against 

the  timber  $3.18  $2.31 

Assume  a  realizable  value  at 

end  of  the  10-year  term  of, 

say,  $5  per  thousand 5.00  5.00 

Total  cost  as  above 3.18  2.31 

Net  profit  margin $1.82  $2.69 

Million  feet  purchasable 
with  $300,000  200  million    400  million 

Total  net  profit  on  investment..$364,000      $1,076,000 
Advantage  in  favor  of  B.  C.  tract $    712,000 

Surveys:  All  boundary  surveys  in  British  Co- 
lumbia are  by  law  required  to  be  made  by  licensed 
surveyors  acting  under  regulations  issued  by  the 
Surveyor  General  of  the  province.  The  surveyor  is 
engaged  and  paid  by  the  private  owner  and  after  the 
survey  notes  and  plans  have  been  accepted  by  the 
Surveyor  General  as  meeting  the  regulations  issued 
by  him,  notice  of  survey  is  published  for  a  period  of 
sixty  days  in  the  official  "Gazette,"  after  which  period, 
if  no  adverse  claims  appear,  the  survey  is  considered 
final  as  between  the  government  and  the  private 
owner. 

The  gazettment  of  a  crown  grant  survey,  together 
with  the  subsequent  issuance  of  the  grant  itself, 
gives  a  final  and  unassailable  title  to  the  area  in- 
cluded within  the  survey. 


The  provincial  timber  and  pulp  leases,  and  the  do- 
minion timber  berths,  were  all  surveyed  before  title 
was  granted  and  the  titles  to  the  timber  included 
within  the  surveys  as  made  is  consequently  safe 
against  all  attack  except  as  such  attack  may  be 
based  on  a  provable  existence  of  a  prior  crown  grant 
title  overlapping  the  area  covered  by  the  lease 
survey. 

The  timber  limit  surveys  have  all  been  made  sub- 
sequent to  the  issuance  of  the  corresponding  timber 
license  titles,  which  were  based  on  a  sworn  state- 
ment by  the  staker  that  a  single  stake  had  been  set 
for  each  limit,  together  with  a  description  of  the 
location  of  said  stake  and  a  description  of  the  limit 
by  "metes  and  bounds"  with  reference  to  the  staking 
point.  Consequently  the  gazettment  of  a  timber 
limit  survey  affords  no  protection  against  future  pri- 
vate claims  of  prior  right  based  on  a  provable  priority 
of  staking.  The  timber  limit  owner  is  thus  vitally 
interested  in  the  stake  locations  and  descriptions  of 
all  nearby  unsurveyed  limits  staked  prior  to  his  own. 

Practically  all  timber  limits  of  importance  in  the 
Sheltered  Waters  Region  have  already  been  surveyed 
and  gazetted,  so  the  possibility  of  future  title  dispute 
with  regard  to  these  limits  is  negligible. 

Log  Scaling:  All  logs,  piles  and  shingle  bolts  cut 
on  lands  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  province  of 
British  Columbia  are  required  to  be  scaled  or  mea- 
sured by  a  sealer  licensed  by  the  province;  such 
license  having  been  issued  after  a  rigid  examination. 
No  timber  is  permitted  to  be  sold  except  under  a 
scale  certificate  issued  by  the  sealer's  office.  The 
cost  of  this  work  is  covered  by  a  fee  of  5  cents  a 
thousand  feet,  board  measure,  for  logs;  2%  cents  a 
hundred  lineal  feet  for  piling  and  poles;  5  cents  a 
cord  for  shingle  bolts  and  similar  products,  together 
with  the  actual  traveling  expenses  of  the  sealer.  The 
scale  bill  issued  by  the  forest  department  is  con- 
sidered prima  facie  evidence  of  the  quantity  of  tim- 
ber contained  in  any  particular  raft  or  boom. 

If  either  party  to  the  purchase  or  sale  of  such 
boom  is  dissatisfied  with  the  measurement  shown,  a 
rescale  can  be  demanded.  In  the  event  that  such  a 
rescale  shows  a  considerable  difference,  it  is  then 
scaled  the  third  time  by  either  the  supervisor  of 
sealers  or  by  a  man  appointed  by  him  for  that  pur- 
pose. In  this  case  there  is  no  charge  for  the  rescale. 
If,  however,  the  rescale  shows  practically  the  same 
result  as  the  former  scale,  an  additional  charge  is 
made  by  the  government  and  must  be  paid  by  the 
person  demanding  the  re-scale. 

Organization  for  handling  the  scaling  system  con- 
sists of  a  supervisor  of  sealers  and  his  office  staff, 
who  are  under  the  direction  of  a  district  forester. 
The  licensed  sealers  who  perform  the  actual  work 
of  counting  and  measuring  the  timber  number  six- 
teen in  the  Vancouver  district,  two  in  the  Island  dis- 
trict and  one  in  the  Prince  Rupert  district  . 

The  output  of  the  camp  may  be  measured  either 
at  the  point  of  production  or  at  the  point  of  sale,  as 
may  be  desired  by  the  seller.  When  any  producer 
of  logs  desires  to  obtain  a  scale  of  his  logs,  he  ap- 
plies to  the  supervisor  of  sealers,  either  in  person  or 
by  letter,  and  a  sealer  is  sent  out  to  measure  up  the 
boom.  The  result  of  this  scale  is  turned  into  the 
supervisor's  office  and  is  figured  up  by  the  office  staff 
there,  and  an  official  scale  bill,  together  with  an 
itemized  statement  of  the  logs,  is  furnished  to  the 
seller.  This  constitutes  the  basis  of  any  bargain 
which  may  be  made  between  the  seller  and  the  buyer 


and  also  is  the  basis  for  the  collection  of  royalty 
which  accrues  to  the  government.  The  royalty  charge 
is  borne  in  almost  every  case  by  the  seller  of  the 
logs,  although  it  is  customarily  paid  by  the  purchaser 
and  deducted  from  the  purchase  price.  The  scaling 
fee  of  5  cents  a  thousand  feet  is  shared  between  the 
buyer  and  the  seller.  There  is  a  heavy  penalty  for 
buying,  selling  or  in  any  way  trafficking  in  logs  which 
have  not  been  scaled  by  a  licensed  sealer. 

Log  Towing:  All  logs  moved  to  market  by  towing 
are  first  made  up  into  "booms"  or  "rafts."  The  boom 
sticks  are  usually  66  feet  long  and  are  connected  to- 
gether by  boom  chains.  The  logs  are  arranged 
lengthwise  within  the  enclosing  boom  sticks  and  the 
rows  of  boom  sticks  on  either  side  of  the  boom  are 
connected  together  by  66-foot  swifters,  which  are 
logs  that  lie  cross-wise  on  top  of  the  logs  in  the  boom 
and  are  secured  at  either  end  to  the  chains  connect- 
ing the  boom  sticks.  A  log  boom  is  ordinarily  spoken 
of  as  containing  five  or  six  or  more  "sections"  or 
"swifters,"  according  as  it  has  five  or  six  or  more 
pairs  of  boom  sticks  with  their  corresponding  five 
or  six  or  more  swifters  tying  across  the  boom. 

Over  90  per  cent  of  the  logs  manufactured  on  the 
British  Columbia  coast  are  towed  in  booms  by  tugs 
to  the  mills,  most  of  which  are  located  near  Van- 
couver. There  are  twenty-three  separate  towing 
companies  engaged  in  this  business,  with  a  total  of 
sixty-five  tugs.  The  charge  for  towing  or  "towing 
rate,"  varies  from  35  cents  a  thousand  for  a  short 
distance  trip  up  to  $2.00  for  distances  between  225 
and  250  miles.  The  average  towing  distance  for  logs 
brought  to  the  Vancouver  market  is  about  130  miles 
and  the  average  towing  rate  $1.15.  The  tow  bill 
is  generally  paid  by  the  logger,  the  logs  being  sold 
delivered  at  mill  all  charges  paid,  including  royalty 
as  well  as  towing  charges. 

Even  in  these  sheltered  waters  there  are  a  few 
places,  such  as  the  Strait  of  Georgia  near  Vancouver 
and  Johnstone  Strait  toward  the  upper  end  of  Van- 
couver Island,  where  the  sea  occasionally  gets  too 
rough  for  safe  towing  in  ordinary  watersection  booms. 
This  risk  is  largely  avoided  by  a  careful  watching  of 
the  barometer  on  the  part  of  the  tug  captain  and  can 
be  entirely  avoided  by  making  the  logs  into  "Davis" 
booms,  in  which  the  logs  are  bundled  lengthwise  on 
a  single  layer  of  long  logs  woven  into  a  flexible  mat 
by  wire  cables.  These  Davis  booms  are  used  only 
where  it  is  necessary  to  tow  the  logs  across  con- 
siderable stretches  open  to  the  sweep  of  the  main 
Pacific  Ocean.  Their  seaworthiness  has  been  fully 
demonstrated  and  they  would  be  more  extensively 
used  were  it  not  for  the  extra  cost  of  building  the 
boom  at  the  logging  camp  and  breaking  it  down  at 
the  mill  (which  extra  cost  more  than  offsets  the 
slight  towing  risk  within  the  Sheltered  Waters 
Region)  and  the  fact  that  the  open  sea  towing,  such 
as  that  from  the  West  Coast  of  Vancouver  Island  to 
Vancouver,  is  subject  to  storms  which  actually  bother 
the  tug  more  than  the  boom. 

With  the  exception  of  hemlock,  all  the  various 
species  of  timber  float  strongly  and  are  not  subject  to 
loss  from  sinking  logs.  Hemlock  togs  vary  consider- 
ably, but  consistently  float  deeperthan  logs  of  other 
species  and  are  subject  to  loss,  not  only  from  sinking, 
but  also  from  the  comparative  ease  with  which  an 
almost  submerged  hemlock  log  can  duck  under  the 
confining  boom  stick  when  the  sea  gets  a  bit  rough. 
This  latter  risk  is  largely  controlled  by  arranging 


the  larger  and  more  buoyant  logs  along  the  outside 
edges  of  the  boom.  The  sinkage  is  also  largely  con- 
trolled by  peeling  those  certain  butt  logs  which  the 
experienced  logger  can  readily  spot  in  the  woods  as 
liable  to  sink.  This  peeling  of  hemlock  logs  will 
cease  to  be  a  burden  against  the  saw-log  when  the 
hemlock  bark  comes  into  value  for  tanning  purposes. 
On  the  basis  of  present  logging  practice,  the  loss  of 
hemlock  logs  from  sinkage  and  ducking  out  of  booms 
is  probably  about  5  per  cent,  possibly  lower. 

The  total  loss  of  logs  in  towing  to  Vancouver  mills 
is  not  accurately  known,  but  judging  from  such 
records  as  can  be  had  showing  a  comparison  between 
log  tallies  before  and  after  towing,  it  is  somewhere 
between  one  and  two  per  cent. 

Log  Market:  A  glance  at  the  map — opposite  page 
3 — will  show~that  one-third  of  the  merchantable  tim- 
bered area  with  nearly  one-half  of  the  total  stand  of 
timber  in  the  province  is  directly  tributary  to  the 
sheltered  tide-water  channels  lying  between  Van- 
couver Island  and  the  mainland.  This  geographical 
combination  of  "sheltered"  waterways  and  numerous 
excellent  harbors,  flanked  by  heavily  timbered  lands, 
has  resulted  in  a  broad  and  active  market  for  logs 
which  in  turn  encourages  a  division  between  the 
logging  and  milling  branches  of  the  lumber  industry, 
similar  to  that  obtaining  under  somewhat  similar 
conditions  on  Puget  Sound  and  the  Columbia  River, 
in  that  most  of  the  logs  are  produced  by  independent 
loggers  who  sell  their  logs  to  the  mills  on  the  open 
market.  Practically  all  tide-water  mills  purchase  a 
larger  or  smaller  proportion  of  their  logs  from  inde- 
pendent loggers  and  many  mills  purchase  their  entire 
requirements,  having  no  timberlands  or  logging  oper- 
ations of  their  own.  Naturally  the  timberlands  tribu- 
tary to  these  sheltered  channels  enjoyed  an  earlier 
development  and  are  in  greater  demand  than  other 
coast  locations.  At  the  present  time  over  90  per  cent 
of  the  log  output  of  the  British  Columbia  coast  comes 
from  the  inside  edge  of  Vancouver  Island  and  ad- 
jacent mainland. 

The  trend  of  development  in  log  production  for 
each  species  of  timber  is  well  indicated  by  the  ac- 
companying chart  showing  official  log  scale  returns 
for  the  Vancouver  district,  which  includes  the  area 
from  which  logs  are  regularly  towed  to  the  Vancouver 
market  and  coincides  closely  with  the  "Sheltered 
Waters  Region."  It  will  be  noted  that  the  average 
monthly  production  of  Douglas  fir  logs  for  1914  was 
32.8  million  feet,  a  figure  somewhat  below  normal  be- 
cause of  the  war  influence  during  the  latter  part  of 
the  year.  In  1915  the  output  fell  to  15.2  million  per 
month,  reflecting  the  business  depression  common  to 
all  the  lumber  producing  sections  of  the  Pacific 
Northwest.  In  1916  the  monthly  output  rose  to  27.8 
million  feet  and  for  1917  reached  an  average  of  37.2 
million  feet,  which  is  somewhat  above  normal  for 
pre-war  conditions. 

The  production  of  cedar  logs  shows  a  different 
trend,  being  plainly  proof  against  the  depressing  in- 
fluence so  radically  affecting  Douglas  fir.  The  average 
monthly  output  for  1914  was  12.0  million  feet.  For 
1915  it  rose  to  14.0  million  feet;  for  1916  to  17.6 
million  feet  and  for  1917  to  18.8  million  feet,  a  steady 
increase  aggregating  57  per  cent  since  1914. 

This  showing,  especially  the  1917  increase,  is  par- 
ticularly remarkable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  cedar 
is  not  in  demand  for  war  purposes,  as  is  Douglas  fir 
and  spruce.  It  is  accounted  for  in  part  by  the  com- 


paratively  exclusive  virtues  of  cedar  as  an  "over- 
coat" wood  (i.  e.  for  siding  and  shingles)  and  the 
particular  advantage  of  western  cedar  in  its  ex- 
tremely light  shipping  weight  and  large  proportion 
of  clear,  which,  coupled  with  a  markedly  waning 
supply  of  Eastern  cedar  and  cypress,  have  given  the 
western  cedar  products  a  normally  increasing  market 
throughout  the  United  States  and  Canada.  A  more 
specifically  compelling  reason,  however,  is  the  plain- 
ly apparent  northward  shift  of  cedar  production  from 
the  Western  Washington  Region,  which  has  been,  and 
still  is,  contributing  the  bulk  of  the  cedar  output  of 
North  America,  toward  the  Sheltered  Waters  Region 
of  British  Columbia. 

The  supply  of  cedar  in  Oregon  is  practically  neg- 
ligible. The  forests  east  of  the  Cascade  Range  run 
70  to  80  per  cent  yellow  pine,  with  the  balance  chiefly 
sugar  pine  and  Douglas  fir.  West  of  the  Cascades, 
Douglas  fir  comprises  70  to  90  per  cent  of  the  forests, 
with  the  balance  largely  hemlock  and  spruce. 

In  Washington  the  percentage  of  cedar  gradually 
increases  northward  from  less  than  5  per  cent  in 
Cowlitz  and  Wahkiakum  counties  on  the  Columbia 
River  to  22  per  cent  in  Whatcom  County,  which  ad- 
joins British  Columbia.  The  percentage  of  Douglas 
fir  shows  a  corresponding  decrease  from  over  80  per 
cent  on  the  Columbia  River  to  47  per  cent  in  What- 
com County,  where  the  remaining  31  per  cent  of  the 
stand  consists  almost  entirely  of  hemlock  and  silver 
fir.  Throughout  the  state  the  cedar  is  everywhere 
mixed  with  Douglas  fir  and  other  species,  rarely 
forming  over  one-third  of  the  stand  over  any  con- 
siderable area.  The  most  notable  exception  to  this 
was  the  heavy  stand  of  nearly  pure  cedar  on  the 
coastal  bench  extending  west  from  Port  Angeles 
along  the  Strait  of  Juan  de  Fuca.  This  stand  of 
cedar  has  now  all  been  cut,  but  ten  years  ago  it  was 
providing  logs  for  what  was  then  the  largest  cedar 
manufacturing  plant  in  the  world. 

In  British  Columbia,  as  has  already  been  pointed 
out,  predominantly  cedar  areas  exist,  many  of  them 
immediately  adjacent  to  tide-water  and  within  towing 
reach  of  Vancouver.  The  center  of  cedar  production 
is  simply  and  naturally  shifting  toward  these  areas. 

The  comparative  scarcity  of  cedar  on  Puget  Sound 
is  plainly  indicated  by  the  accompanying  charts 
showing  log  prices  on  the  Puget  Sound  and  Van- 
couver markets  since  1904.  The  Vancouver  prices 
average  $3.73  lower  for  the  years  1905  to  1909  in- 
clusive, $2.34  lower  for  the  years  1910  to  1913  and 
$2.15  lower  for  the  years  1914  to  1917.  The  con- 
tinuous decrease  of  this  differential,  which  decrease 
has  been  added  to  the  Vancouver  price,  was  at  first 
largely  the  result  of  an  increase  in  stability  and 
efficiency  on  the  part  of  the  Vancouver  cedar  manu- 
facturing plants,  but  since  1910  this  differential  has 
been  shifting  over  into  an  increase  of  stumpage  value, 
where  it  belongs. 

The  accompanying  charts  also  show  that  this  price 
differential  between  the  two  markets  is  confined  to 
cedar;  the  Douglas  fir  and  hemlock  prices  running 
practically  the  same  on  both  markets.  This  showing 
is  further  evidenced  by  the  movement  of  logs  from 
British  Columbia  to  Puget  Sound  during  the  past 
three  years  as  a  result  of  lifting  the  embargo  on  the 
export  of  logs.  Douglas  fir  and  hemlock  logs,  although 
exportable  without  tax,  failed  to  move.  Cedar  logs, 
however,  although  subject  to  an  export  tax  of  $1.15 
on  No.  1,  65c  on  No.  2  and  50c  on  No.  3  logs  and  an 
additional  towing  charge  varying  from  25c  to  $1.50 


according  to  destination,  have  been  exported  regu- 
larly, even  to  points  as  far  south  as  Everett  and 
Seattle. 

Another  noteworthy  feature  shown  by  these  log 
price  charts  is  that  cedar  prices  have  not  only  held 
consistently  above  Douglas  fir,  especially  on  the 
Puget  Sound  market,  but  have  shown  a  marked  tend- 
ency to  resist  price  depressing  influences.  Thus  in 
1914  and  1915,  when  the  annual  average  price  of 
Douglas  fir  logs  fell  $1.40  on  the  Vancouver  market 
and  $1.35  on  the  Puget  Sound  market,  cedar  logs  fell 
only  30c  on  the  Vancouver  market  and  25c  on  the 
Puget  Sound  market. 

On  the  chart  showing  log  scale  returns  for  the 
Vancouver  district,  no  account  is  taken  of  cedar 
shingle  bolts,  poles,  piles  and  ties.  As  shingles  are 
manufactured  from  logs  as  well  as  bolts,  it  is  proper 
to  add  the  bolt  production  in  considering  cedar  out- 
put. The  shingle  bolts  scaled  from  the  Vancouver 
district  in  1917  amounted  to  212,710  cords,  which  at 
500  board  feet  to  a  cord  is  equivalent  to  106  million 
feet.  Including  this  item,  the  total  cedar  output  for 
the  Vancouver  district  was  332  million  feet,  which  is 
34.6  per  cent  of  the  total  output  of  957  million  feet 
of  logs  and  bolts  for  the  district.  The  total  cedar  log 
and  bolt  consumption  of  Western  Washington  for 
1917  was  more  than  double  that  for  the  coast  of 
British  Columbia. 

Referring  again  to  the  chart  showing  log  scale 
returns  for  the  Vancouver  district,  the  output  of 
hemlock  and  larch  (silver  fir)  shows  to  an  even 
greater  degree  than  cedar  a  disregard  of  the  de- 
pressing influence  attendant  on  the  commencement 
of  the  war,  increasing  from  a  monthly  average  of 
3.8  M  feet  in  1914  to  6.1  M  feet  in  1915,  7.9  M  feet 
in  1916  and  10.8  M  feet  in  1917,  a  total  increase  of 
184  per  cent  in  three  years.  This  increase  has  re- 
sulted in  part  from  a  special  demand  for  boxes  in 
which  to  ship  munitions  of  war,  but  more  notably 
from  a  rapid  expansion  in  the  pulp  and  paper  in- 
dustry and  an  expanding  demand  for  hemlock  as 
building  material  throughout  the  middle  west,  this 
latter  demand  being  encouraged  by  the  slightly 
lighter  shipping  weight  of  hemlock  as  compared  with 
Douglas  fir. 

The  rapid  expansion  of  the  British  Columbia  pulp 
and  paper  industry,  as  indicated  by  an  increase  in 
value  of  output  from  $3,520,000  for  1916  to  $7,447,680 
for  1917,  is  based  on  a  world-wide  increase  in  paper 
consumption,  accentuated  by  an  already  acute  short- 
age of  raw  material  in  the  pulpwood  region  of  north- 
eastern United  States  and  Eastern  Canada,  which  has 
been,  and  still  is,  producing  the  bulk  of  the  paper  con- 
sumption of  North  America. 

This  shortage,  coupled  with  the  growingly  attractive 
markets  of  South  America,  Australia  and  the  Orient, 
has  led  to  a  recognition  of  the  natural  advantages  of 
British  Columbia,  whose  supply  of  pulpwood  is  not 
only  greater  in  amount  than  that  of  Washington  or 
Oregon,  but  is  also  more  advantageously  situated,  the 
bulk  of  it  being  within  a  few  miles  of  her  many 
thousand  miles  of  coast  line  with  plenty  of  water 
power  handy  to  tide-water  and  cheap  to  develop. 

Six  years  ago  the  first  successful  paper  mill  in 
British  Columbia  had  not  yet  begun  to  operate.  To- 
day there  are  four  operating  pulp  and  paper  com- 
panies, all  on  the  coast,  with  an  aggregate  capital  of 
$26,000,000  and  an  aggregate  daily  output  of  300  tons 
of  paper  and  140  tons  of  sulphite  and  kraft  pulp. 
New  plants  and  additions  now  under  construction 
will  soon  increase  this  daily  output  to  420  tons  of 


8 


paper  and  265  tons  of  sulphite  and  kraft  pulp,  con- 
suming logs  at  rate  of  190  million  feet  per  annum. 

Already  the  pulp  and  paper  mills  are  actively  com- 
peting with  the  sawmills  for  hemlock,  silver  fir  and 
spruce  logs  and  it  is  likely  that  this  competition  will 
in  time  bid  up  the  price  of  these  species  to  figures 
which  only  the  pulp  and  paper  mills  can  afford  to 
pay,  thus  repeating  the  history  of  the  pulpwood 
regions  of  eastern  United  States  and  Canada,  where 
mills  unfavorably  situated  with  reference  to  the  re- 
maining supply  of  standing  pulpwood  timber  are  to- 
day paying  as  high  as  $25  a  cord  for  their  raw  ma- 
terial a  price  equivalent  to  over  $50  a  thousand 
board  feet  on  a  basis  of  lumber  measurement. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  British  Columbia  is  rapidly 
outstripping  Washington  and  Oregon  combined  in  its 
production  of  pulp  and  paper.  The  supply  of  pulp- 
wood  in  Washington  is  nearly  as  great  as  in  British 
Columbia,  but  the  relative  location  of  pulpwood,  water 
power,  and  tide-water  is  not  so  favorable.  The  pulp- 
wood  species  are  widely  mixed  in  minor  proportions 
with  Douglas  fir  and  predominate  only  in  the  less 
accessible  situations  where  the  ground  is  mostly 
steep  and  rough  and  the  logging  conditions  generally 
unfavorable,  while  the  available  water  powers  are 
not  so  handy  to  off-shore  shipping  facilities,  which 
are,  of  course,  more  essential  than  rail  connection 
to  a  coast  paper  mill  aiming  at  anything  beyond  a 
local  market.  A  project  for  a  paper  mill  with  a  daily 
capacity  of  400  tons  of  newsprint,  with  the  entire 
output  already  under  contract  to  Eastern  newspaper 
publishers,  has  recently  succeeded  in  lining  up  two 
water  power  possibilities,  one  within  reach  of  Seattle 
and  the  other  on  the  Olympic  peninsula,  but  after 
over  a  year's  effort  have  not  yet  been  able,  even  by 
drawing  on  the  U.  S.  forest  reserves,  to  get  together 
a  sufficient  accessible  holding  containing  the  billion 
feet  of  pulpwood  considered  as  the  essential  minimum 
demanded  to  justify  the  expenditure  required  for  the 
plant.  This  minimum  would,  of  course,  not  be  suf- 
ficient to  run  the  mill  more  than  10  or  12  years,  but 
would  give  a  large  degree  of  market  control  in  buy- 
ing pulpwood  logs  on  the  open  market.  Pulp  and 
paper  mills  here  as  elsewhere,  are  strongly  inclined 
to  reserve  their  own  timber  and  draw  largely  on  the 
open  market  for  their  raw  material. 

The  production  of  spruce,  as  shown  on  the  chart, 
has  responded  only  slightly  to  the  tremendous  and 
largely  exclusive  demand  for  this  species  as  aero- 
plane stock.  This  is  accounted  for  by  its  scattering 
occurrence  in  mixture  with  other  species  making  it 
difficult  to  materially  increase  spruce  production 
without  a  large  and  unwarranted  increase  in  the  pro- 
duction of  other  species.  This  situation  has 
been  met  by  shifting  operations  to  areas  of  timber 
hitherto  unattractive  to  the  logger  but  containing 
considerable  proportions  of  spruce.  Such  areas  have 
been  located  on  the  west  coast  of  Vancouver  Island, 
on  the  mainland  north  of  Vancouver  Island  and  on 
the  Queen  Charlotte  Islands.  This  shifting  of  oper- 
ations, which  began  about  one  year  ago  and  has 
affected  the  non-military  cedar  producers  rather 
than  the  Douglas  fir  operators  has,  of  course,  been 
induced  by  the  military  authorities,  partly  through 
its  control  of  logging  materials  such  as  wire  rope, 
but  largely  by  means  of  favorable  contracts  with  a 
minimum  profit  guaranteed  to  the  logger,  these  con- 
tracts generally  calling  for  the  delivery  of  nothing 
but  No.  1  and  No.  2  spruce  logs. 

Lumber  Market:  The  stability  and  rapidly  ex- 
panding nature  of  the  markets  for  British  Columbia 


forest  products  is  well  evidenced  by  the  following 
figures  showing  the  total  scale  of  logs,  bolts,  piles, 
poles  and  ties  for  the  province  since  1903.  The  most 
notable  feature  of  this  showing  is  the  fact  that  the 
1917  production  was  double  that  of  the  well-remem- 
bered banner  year  of  1907,  a  record  that  no  com- 
peting state  or  province  can  even  approach. 

Board  Feet: 

1903  317,551,151 

1904  348,031,790 

1905  473,713,986 

1906  508,069,969 

1907  846,000,000 

1908 659,000,000 

1909  775,000,000 

1910  1,040,000,000 

1911  , 856,048,000 

1912  1,105,392,000 

1913 1,227,466,000 

1914  883,436,000 

1915  1,017,683,000 

1916  1,280,263,000 

1917  : 1,647,000,000 

It  is  further  noteworthy  that  this  increased  pro- 
duction has  been  sold  largely  in  the  prairie  market 
both  in  Canada  and  the  United  States  in  competition 
with  the  waning  production  of  Eastern  species  and 
has  continued  in  spite  of  the  reduction  in  waterborne 
shipments  caused  by  the  war.  The  offshore  ship- 
ments  from  British  Columbia  in  1917  amounted  to 
only  44  million  feet. 

Douglas  fir  is  today  actively  competing  with  eastern 
species  as  far  east  as  Minnesota  where  it  constitutes 
33  per  cent  of  all  the  lumber  handled  by  the  retail 
yards,  Iowa  18  per  cent  and  Wisconsin  7  per  cent. 
Cedar  products  and  the  larger  sizes  of  Douglas  fir 
are  being  shipped  by  rail  in  increasing  quantities  all 
the  way  to  the  Atlantic  seaboard. 

The  possibilities  of  overseas  markets  after  the  war 
are,  of  course,  very  promising,  but  it  is  encouraging 
to  bear  in  mind  that  the  future  expansion  of  the 
British  Columbia  timber  industries  is  assured  by 
markets  already  within  her  reach  by  rail. 

Passing  by  the  much  discussed  opportunity  offered 
by  the  Panama  Canal  for  bringing  Pacific  Coast  tim- 
ber to  Atlantic  Coast  markets,  the  less  discussed  pos- 
sibilities of  Australia  and  China  are  at  least  worthy 
of  mention. 

Australia  has  practically  no  softwoods  of  her  own 
which  accounts  for  the  fact  that  between  1903  and 
1913  the  value  of  lumber  and  logs  imported  into  the 
Commonwealth  jumped  from  $4,345,737  to  $12,945,012, 
an  increase  of  198  per  cent.  The  normal  annual  im- 
portation of  lumber  into  Australia  before  the  war 
was  about  350  million  feet,  of  which  over  two-thirds 
came  from  the  Pacific  Northwest.  This  amount 
shrunk  to  200  million  in  1916  and  will  show  a  further 
shrinkage  for  1917.  This  repression  of  building  ac- 
tivities will  bring  about  a  corresponding  expansion 
after  the  war. 

In  the  past  British  Columbia  has  had  little  share 
in  the  Australian  lumber  export  trade,  owing  chiefly 
to  the  more  favorable  charter  rates  obtainable  from 
the  return  cargo  ports  of  California,  Oregon  and 
Washington,  and  a  somewhat  greater  efficiency  and 
co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  American  mills.  This 
handicap  has  already  begun  to  diminish  and  British 
Columbia  is  definitely  in  line  for  an  increasing  share 
of  the  Australian  trade  after  the  war,  even  without 
the  proposed  differential  tariff  in  favor  of  British 


Columbia.  The  possibilities  of  this  proposed  differ- 
ential tariff  are  indicated  by  the  fact  that  under  a 
preferential  tariff  with  South  Africa,  amounting  to 
approximately  2%  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  lumber 
shipped,  British  Columbia  has  supplied  64  per  cent 
of  all  lumber  imported  by  that  country. 

As  regards  China  and  the  Orient  generally,  the 
best  indication  of  possibilities  is  the  recent  building 
of  a  large  sawmill  near  Vancouver  by  the  Robert 
Dollar  Steamship  Company  of  San  Francisco  for  the 
purpose  of  supplying  50  million  feet  annually  for  the 
Oriental  trade. 

Shingle  Market:  The  trend  of  the  market  for 
British  Columbia  shingles  is  also  measured  by  in- 
creasing production  and  prices.  The  total  output  of 
all  grades  of  shingles  by  British  Columbia  mills  for 
1917  was  2,278,205,000  equivalent  to  about  225  million 
board  feet,  the  market  value  f.  o.  b.  mill  being 
$7,609,854.  Of  the  total  quantity  the  United  States 
market  absorbed  the  record  quantity  of  1,411,420,378 
shingles,  valued  at  $5,182,856  while  the  Canadian 
trade  took  866,785,000,  valued  at  $2,426,998.  That 
records  were  broken  is  established  by  the  figures  for 
1916,  when  the  total  output  of  the  B.  C.  mills  was 
1,900,000,000  shingles. 

This  showing  is  indicative  of  the  northward  shift 
of  cedar  production  already  discussed  under  log 
market. 

Tariffs:  At  the  present  time  the  largest  single 
market  for  British  Columbia  lumber  is  the  prairie 
provinces  of  the  Canadian  middle  west.  American 
lumber  planed  on  one  side  is  admitted  duty  free  to 
Canada  under  the  regular  tariff,  but  it  is  subject  to 
a  7%  per  cent  ad  valorem  war  tax,  which  in  effect 
amounts  to  that  much  protection  to  the  British  Co- 
lumbia manufacturer  in  catering  to  the  Canadian 
customer. 

Next  to  the  Canadian  prairie  provinces,  the  United 
States  presents  the  largest  market  for  British  Co- 
lumbia forest  products,  and  this  makes  the  American 
tariff  a  matter  of  prime  importance.  The  following 
list  enumerates  the  items  which  are  admitted  to  the 
United  States  free  of  duty:  Logs,  timber,  round  un- 
manufactured, hewn  or  sawed,  sided  or  squared;  pulp 
woods,  kindling  wood,  firewood,  hop  poles,  hoop  poles, 
fence  posts,  handle  bolts,  shingle  bolts,  gun  blocks 
for  gunstocks,  rough  hewn  or  sawed,  or  planed  on 
one  side;  hubs  for  wheels,  posts,  heading  bolts,  stave 
bolts,  last  blocks,  and  all  like  blocks  or  sticks,  rough 
hewn,  sawed  or  bored;  sawed  boards,  planks,  deals 
and  other  lumber,  not  further  manufactured  than 
sawed,  planed,  and  tongued  and  grooved;  clapboards, 
laths,  pickets,  palings,  staves,  shingles,  ship  timber, 
ship  planking,  broom  handles,  sawdust  and  wood 
flour;  mechanically  ground  wood  pulp,  chemical  wood 
pulp,  bleached  or  unbleached  and  paper;  beaded  ceil- 
ing and  mouldings  have  also  been  held  to  be  free 
from  duty.  Railroad  ties  and  telephone  and  telegraph 
poles  bear  a  duty  of  10  per  cent,  while  empty  pack- 
ing boxes,  packing  box  shooks  and  veneers  of  wood 
pay  a  duty  of  15  per  cent  ad  valorem. 

The  only  other  tariff  feature  which  is  of  importance 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  British  Columbia  timber- 
land  owner  is  the  export  tax  levied  by  the  province 
on  certain  grades  of  logs  exported  in  the  round  to 
American  mills.  Prior  to  the  war,  the  province  re- 
quired that  all  logs  cut  from  timber  limits,  timber 
leases,  timber  sales  and  certain  classes  of  crown 
grants  should  be  manufactured  into  lumber  within 
the  province.  As  a  war  measure,  however,  the  ex- 
port of  logs  has  been  permitted,  subject  to  an  export 


tax  on  cedar,  spruce  and  pine  amounting  to  $1.15  a 
thousand  for  No.  1  logs,  65  cents  for  No.  2  and  50 
cents  for  No.  3  logs.  This  tax  is,  of  course,  additional 
to  the  regular  royalty  charge.  Fir,  hemlock  and 
silver  fir  are  exportable  in  the  log  under  the  same 
provision  without  additional  taxation. 

This  matter  of  log  export  has,  of  course,  been  a 
bone  of  contention  between  the  loggers  and  the  mill- 
men.  At  a  recent  conference  of  representatives  of 
logging,  shingle,  sawmill  and  box  factory  interests 
held  with  the  Minister  of  Lands  at  Victoria  a  com- 
promise was  reached  and  a  war  advisory  committee 
appointed,  which  will  consider  the  situation  from 
month  to  month  and  report.  An  official  memo  has 
been  issued  dealing  with  the  situation  and  the  reso- 
lutions carried  at  the  round-table  conference  have 
been  approved  by  Hon.  T.  D.  Pattullo,  Minister  of 
Lands.  They  are  as  follows: 

"1.  That  to  provide  a  channel  of  information  for 
each  industry  concerned,  as  well  as  a  method  for 
keeping  in  continuous  touch  with  the  complex  factors 
and  changing  conditions  affecting  log  supply  and 
demand,  there  be  formed  a  war  advisory  committee. 
This  committee  to  meet  once  a  month  and  to  be 
composed  of  nine  members — three  for  the  lumber 
manufacturers,  three  for  the  loggers  and  three  for 
the  department.  An  emergency  sub-committee,  con- 
sisting of  one  representative  for  each  interest,  to 
meet,  when  necessary  during  each  month,  the  manu- 
facturers' representative  being  chosen  each  month 
from  the  industry  most  likely  to  be  affected  by  cur- 
cent  conditions. 

"2.  That  a  fresh  start  for  the  consideration  of  the 
question  of  log  export  be  made  as  from  the  date  of 
the  present  meeting,  March  20;  that  the  matter  be 
considered  at  each  monthly  meeting  of  the  com- 
mittee in  the  light  of  facts  as  they  then  exist,  and 
that  the  recommendations  made  to  the  minister  at 
each  meeting  cover  a  period  of  one  month  ahead. 

"3.  That,  except  for  logs  covered  by  export  per- 
mits issued  up  to  March  24  for  booms  with  tugs 
alongside  by  that  date,  there  be  not  allowed  up  to 
the  next  meeting,  on  April  22,  any  export  of  hemlock 
or  fir,  nor  any  export  of  cedar  other  than  of  low- 
grade  cedar  booms,  approved  by  the  emergency  sub- 
committee." 

Association  Activities:  The  British  Columbia  Log- 
gers Association  has  been  in  existence  for  many 
years,  and  became  an  incorporated  society  on  August 
5,  1907. 

Early  in  1916,  the  association  felt  that  the  time 
had  come  for  expansion  and  it  then  secured  its 
present  commodious  offices  in  the  Rogers  Building 
and  employed  Mr.  Armstrong  as  Secretary,  he  being 
the  first  secretary  to  give  his  entire  time  to  the  work 
of  the  association. 

The  active  membership  of  the  association  includes 
45  logging  companies,  producing  approximately  70 
per  cent  of  the  total  cut  on  the  British  Columbia 
coast.  Besides  the  active  members,  there  are  21 
associate  members,  who,  although  not  actively  en- 
gaged in  logging,  are  interested  in  the  prosperity  of 
the  logging  business  and  are  glad  to  lend  a  hand  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  the  association. 

The  lumber  manufacturers  of  British  Columbia 
have  two  well  organized  and  carefully  administered 
associations,  similar  in  character  to  the  lumber  manu- 
facturers' associations  of  the  United  States,  viz.,  the 
Mountain  Lumber  Manufacturers'  Association,  which 
cares  for  the  interests  of  the  mills  in  the  interior 


10 


of  the  province,  and  the  British  Columbia  Lumber  & 
Shingle  Manufacturers  Limited,  which  cares  for  the 
interests  of  the  tidewater  district. 

The  membership  of  the  coast  association  includes 
42  mills,  the  output  of  which  comprises  about  90 
per  cent  of  the  total  cut  of  the  tidewater  mills. 

The  principal  activities  of  the  association  are  along 
the  lines  of  standardizing  the  grading  of  logs  and 
lumber,  compiling  statistics  as  to  orders,  production, 
and  shipments  of  lumber  and  other  market  data. 
Three  inspectors  of  weights  are  employed  to  check 
the  weighing  of  lumber  at  the  principal  railway 
weighing  stations.  This  inspection  has  resulted  in 
reducing  claims  for  freight  overcharge  by  80  per 
cent  in  the  last  four  or  five  years. 

The  association  has  not  as  yet  undertaken  much 
work  in  the  line  of  trade  extension  other  than  to 
co-operate  with  the  British  Columbia  Forest  Branch. 

The  Shingle  Agency  of  British  Columbia  had  its 
inception  about  six  years  ago,  when  a  body  of  British 
Columbia  shingle  manufacturers  banded  themselves 
together  in  the  interests  of  the  industry  in  this  lo- 
cality. Then,  as  now,  the  principal  object  of  the 
organization  was  to  keep  its  members  informed  as 
to  prevailing  conditions  and  to  extend  the  market 
for  British  Columbia  cedar  shingles.  The  present 
membership  includes  49  mills  cutting  about  90  per 
cent  of  the  British  Columbia  shingle  output. 

No  trading  in  shingles  is  done  through  the  associa- 
tion, so  that  the  duties  of  the  secretary,  aside  from 
the  clerical  work  which  the  position  involves  at  meet- 
ings, is  largely  that  of  keeping  the  members  informed 
by  circular  letters,  etc.,  concerning  market  prices  and 
conditions  and  any  other  items  of  interest  to  shingle 
manufacturers  which  come  to  his  attention.  A  semi- 
monthly barometer  report,  compiled  from  information 
collected  from  the  various  mills,  is  issued.  This  re- 
port shows  in  figures  and  pictorially  the  current  re- 
lation to  each  other  of  production,  orders,  and  ship- 
ments and  has  proved  very  valuable. 

This  agency,  in  common  with  other  similar  or- 
ganizations, makes  possible  the  handling  by  shingle 
manufacturers  as  a  unit  of  important  questions  such 
as  freight  rates,  car  shortages,  labor  conditions,  etc. 

Governmental  Co-operation:  The  administration 
of  all  forest  work  in  the  province  of  British  Co- 
lumbia is  cared  for  by  the  Forest  Branch  of  the 
Department  of  Lands. 

The  Forest  Branch  was  organized  with  the  assist- 
ance of  the  late  Overton  W.  Price,  of  the  United 
States  Forest  Service,  who,  until  his  death,  held  the 
position  of  consulting  forester. 

The  total  staff  of  the  branch  numbers  about  200, 
of  whom  some  70  are  at  present  on  active  military 


service.  The  technical  staff  consists  of  the  heads  of 
departments,  district  foresters,  and  forest  assistants, 
numbering  altogether  about  28  technical  men,  nearly 
half  of  whom  are  at  present  on  active  military 
service. 

Unlike  many  forestry  departments,  in  various 
states,  whose  function  is  chiefly,  sometime  wholly, 
advisory,  the  British  Columbia  Forest  Branch,  Is  a 
thoroughly  business-like  organization  and  has  large 
business  interests  to  care  for,  some  of  which  are 
indicated  below: 

The  income  of  the  Forest  Branch,  which  cares  for 
the  collection  of  all  forest  taxes,  averages  about 
$2,600,000  per  annum,  or  about  26  per  cent  of  the 
total  provincial  revenue.  The  cost  of  administering 
the  forest  work  averages  about  $320,000  per  annum, 
leaving  a  net  revenue  of  over  $2,250,000  which  is 
perhaps  the  largest  net  forest  revenue  of  any  forest 
department  in  America. 

The  Forest  Protection  Fund,  which  is  contributed 
equally  by  timberland  owners  and  the  government, 
averaging  about  $290,000,  is  administered  by  the 
Forest  Branch.  The  surplus  available,  after  pro- 
viding for  forest  patrol  during  the  summer  season 
is  devoted  to  trail  building,  establishment  of  lookout 
stations,  installation  of  telephone  lines,  and  other 
modern  means  for  increasing  the  efficiency  of  the 
Forest  Fire  Patrol. 

The  Forest  Branch  inspects  all  logging  operations 
and  scales  and  grades  all  logs  produced,  furnishing 
the  logger  with  an  official  scale  bill,  which  is  the 
legal  measure  of  quantity  in  the  case  of  all  pur- 
chases and  sales  of  logs.  It  also  cruises  and  values 
any  timber  that  may  be  applied  for  as  a  timber  Bale 
under  the  Forest  Act  and  makes  the  sale  for  im- 
mediate operation  to  the  highest  bidder. 

One  of  the  larger  activities  undertaken  by  the 
Forest  Branch  is  the  making  of  a  survey  of  the  en- 
tire forest  resources  of  the  province  and  incidentally 
its  agricultural  resources  as  well.  The  work  of  this 
large  undertaking  has  been  considerably  delayed 
on  account  of  the  depletion  of  the  staff  by  enlistment, 
but  a  considerable  proportion  of  the  work  has  already 
been  completed. 

Co-operation  is  the  key-note  of  the  relations  be- 
tween the  British  Columbia  government  and  the 
lumber  industry.  The  Forest  Branch  is,  of  course, 
the  active  organization  in  this  co-operation  from  the 
government  side,  and  trade  extension  work  has  been 
the  field  where  it  has  perhaps  attained  the  largest 
expression.  This  work  of  trade  extension  has  been 
conducted  vigorously,  both  at  home  and  abroad  and 
has  been  an  appreciable  factor  in  the  recent  ex- 
pansion in  the  British  Columbia  industries. 


14  DAY  USE 

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OCT261962 


EDUUTION-PSYCHOIOGV 


LD  21-50m-6,'60 
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University  of  California 

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